Green Lantern (1960) 80

Green Lantern (1960) 80

Oct 1970

Even an Immortal Can Die!

by Denny O’Neill, Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, John Costanza, Julius Schwartz

Hal, Ollie, and the Old-Timer are run off a bridge by a truck coming from the other direction. The truck crashes into the river below. Hal transforms into Green Lantern and uses his ring to prevent them from coming to harm.

They get picked up by a river boat that is transporting toxic waste. Hal could have just flown them out of there but he promised Ollie that he would use his ring as little as possible. The engine room of the boat explodes and the crew men start throwing all of the waste material overboard. Hal gets badly injured in the blast.

The Old-Timer decides to use his powers to fly Hal to safety rather than help with the boat. Hal recovers but then the Old-Timer is accused of violating the rules of the Guardians of the Universe. He is to be sent to the planet Gallo for judgement. Green Lantern and Green Arrow volunteer to go with him.

The trio arrives on Gallo where they are forced to surrender their weapons. They quickly discover that something is wrong. The judges of Gallo have been taken prisoner and the master mechanic of Gallo and his robots have taken over. The Old-Timer is sentenced to death in a kangaroo court run by the master mechanic.

Green Lantern and Green Arrow are imprisoned with the Judges of Gallo. They break free and using some ingenuity and with some help from the judges they turn the tables on the master mechanic and his robots. The old-timer decides to stay behind and deal with the accusations of the other Guardians of Oa. Green Lantern and Green Arrow head back to Earth.

Thoughts

I can appreciate what Denny O’Neill and Neal Adams were trying to accomplish with the road story but I’m kind of glad to see it come to an end. The opening part of this issue with the boat and the toxic waste gives them another chance to make a statement about the state of the county.

I love the designs of the robots in this story. The panel where the robot jury is passing judgement on the Old-Timer is wonderful. They each have their own distinctive look.

There’s a panel where one of the robots hits Green Arrow and the arrows from his quiver go flying in a million different directions. It seems like a simple thing but it is beautifully done.

Overall this is not great but the look of it and the visual storytelling by Neal Adams really make it stand out.